Lawmakers said during a contentious congressional hearing Thursday they are uneasy about the U.S. Postal Service鈥檚 readiness for a crush of mail ballots for the November election because some of them feel burned by other Postal Service actions.
Postmaster General sought to reassure a House Appropriations subcommittee that the Postal Service is well-positioned for an extraordinary effort to deliver mail ballots to election officials on time to be counted and that close to 100% will make it promptly. In recent weeks, DeJoy on suggestions from state and local election officials that the Postal Service has not addressed problems that led to mail ballots arriving too late or without postmarks, disenfranchising those voters.
But as subcommittee members asked DeJoy about how the Postal Service has addressed election officials' concerns, they criticized a larger, 10-year plan to make the mail delivery system more efficient and less costly by consolidating mail processing centers, suggesting it could slow mail delivery, particularly in rural areas. DeJoy disputed that.
DeJoy has said repeatedly that the Postal Service's larger plans won't affect the handling of potentially tens of millions of mail ballots for the Nov. 5 election because the plan is on hold for October and the first half of November. But subcommittee Chair David Joyce, an Ohio Republican, told him in opening the hearing that broader problems with mail delivery are on constituents' minds as the presidential election approaches.
鈥淢any of our constituents have expressed concerns about the Postal Service鈥檚 ability to deliver election ballots securely and on time,鈥 Joyce said. 鈥滻t is imperative that the Postal Service get this right."
DeJoy told the lawmakers that the Postal Service's 650,000 employees will be sifting through 300 million pieces of mail to capture stray ballots and ensure they arrive on time. DeJoy said the Postal Service has improved its training and touted a year-round task force he created to deal with mail ballot issues.
鈥淲e do everything we possibly can in an imperfect system that expects the perfect, and we鈥檙e a good target for a lot of blame,鈥 DeJoy said.
DeJoy said that nearly 99.9% of the mail ballots from the 2020 election were delivered within seven days, the 鈥渞ecommended commonsense time frame." Asked whether people can trust mail ballots, DeJoy said, 鈥淎bsolutely, absolutely.鈥
Scrutiny of the Postal Service intensified earlier this month when the 春色直播 Association of Secretaries of State and 春色直播 Association of State Election Directors saying that weren't being adequately addressed, releasing it to news organizations. DeJoy said he's had a good working relationship with them.
鈥淎 phone call would have helped instead of a letter to the press,鈥 he said.
But Joyce said that in Ohio's Nov. 7, 2023, election, when voters approved an amendment to the state constitution some ballots mailed by voters on Oct. 24 did not arrive until Nov. 21 鈥 10 days too late to be counted. DeJoy said he would need to learn the specifics.
Democratic Rep. Matt Cartwright of Pennsylvania, a key swing state in the presidential election, pointed to from the Postal Service's inspector general saying that in some places, Postal Service workers weren't following its procedures for handling mail ballots.
鈥淲e鈥檙e doing very well at this 鈥 just not perfect,鈥 DeJoy said.
He said the inspector general's office 鈥渉as a couple hundred people鈥 to investigate potential problems and 鈥渋nterrogate our people.鈥
鈥淭hey find some things wrong 鈥 they're perfect at that,鈥 he said.
Though the subcommittee said it was examining issues about mail ballots, several members used the hearing to air other issues that trouble them, particularly the larger plan to reorganize the mail delivery system.
DeJoy said the Postal Service has embarked on long-overdue investments in 鈥渞atty鈥 facilities and making other changes to create 鈥渁 Postal Service for the future鈥 and deliver mail faster. But lawmakers in several states have argued that mail delivery slowed after regional hubs were consolidated.
Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan, of Wisconsin, suggested that a pilot program consolidating some mail processing in Green Bay, Wisconsin, had failed and said the larger reorganization should remain on hold 鈥渇orever.鈥
DeJoy said a pilot program allowed a test of potential changes and problems are being addressed after telling Pocan, 鈥淵ou know, the first rockets that went to the moon blew up.鈥
Pocan shot back: 鈥淭hanks for blowing up Wisconsin.鈥
Cartwright expressed concern about a potential slowdown of rural mail delivery. DeJoy suggested the Postal Service was a financial and operational mess when he became postmaster general in 2020 and badly needed fixing, but Cartwright said, "You really think that rural Americans should have to pay the price?鈥
DeJoy responded: 鈥淚 disagree with the premise, and I think it鈥檚 an unfair accusation, considering the condition that the Postal Service has been allowed to get to.鈥
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The spelling of an Ohio congressman's last name in the 11th paragraph has been corrected. He is David Joyce, not Royce.
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Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas.
